Chitin is the most abundant biopolymer after cellulose but it has not been fully utilized yet. Because of biologically fixed nitrogen, effective conversion of chitin or its derivatives to value‐added organonitrogen compounds is a promising strategy to valorize chitin biomass, which has attracted increasing attention. Recently, a novel concept of shell biorefinery has been proposed on account of the huge potentials of chitin valorization. Until now, a number of valuable organonitrogen chemicals, including amino sugars, amino alcohols, amino acids, and heterocyclic compounds, have been produced from chitin biomass. In this Minireview, the focus is on the recent advances in the synthesis of organonitrogen chemicals employing chitin biomass as starting material via different catalytic processes. An outlook on the challenges and opportunities for more effective valorization of chitin will be given.

中文翻译：

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迈向壳牌生物精炼厂：几丁质生物质化学催化转化为有机氮化学品的进展。

甲壳质是仅次于纤维素的最丰富的生物聚合物，但尚未得到充分利用。由于生物固定的氮，几丁质或其衍生物有效地转化为增值的有机氮化合物是增值几丁质生物量的一种有前途的策略，引起了越来越多的关注。近来，由于甲壳质增价的巨大潜力，已经提出了壳生物精炼的新概念。迄今为止，甲壳质生物质已生产出许多有价值的有机氮化学物质，包括氨基糖，氨基醇，氨基酸和杂环化合物。在此Minireview中，重点是利用几丁质生物质作为原料通过有机合成方法合成有机氮化学品的最新进展。不同的催化过程。展望了甲壳素更有效地增值所面临的挑战和机遇。